"There's no need to bring that, Tala will remain the jewel of the north. We are only bringing whatever will help in the construction of Nievtra. There aren't any meaningful rivers there, much less the ocean." I reminded one of the keelish as they tried to figure out how to bring a massive net along with them as I brought them back to Nievtra. Regardless of how they spoke and how much more intelligent they were than the average keelish, they remained single minded and rigid, unable to think of creative solutions to anything. I was struck by that as the primary hallmark between a keelish and khatif, which was even more apparent in Keel. The less highly evolved one of my people was, the more incapable they were of creative thought, even if they were significantly more intelligent, just like the keelish here in Tala were compared to everywhere else.
I called out to another keelish that seemed to be about to try to take apart the Alpha's conference building, making them stop their exuberant foolishness. For a short moment, as soon as they'd all submitted to me, I'd considered consolidating every keelish into New Nievtra. Even if it wasn't a longer term thing, there were myriad benefits from being near me, not the least of which was the enhanced possibility to evolve that my presence granted to every keelish and khatif. Even a few more Keel in the Empire would be immensely beneficial to me personally, but more importantly, to serve as further support of the Empire itself. Our enemies weren't going to rest and leave us to develop in peace, as soon as they truly realized what we were.
Instead, I'd made the decision that I'd take the bulk of the keelish of Tala with me to New Nievtra. As they continued to evolve to khatif and Keel, they would return to Tala, but with their city established, unnoticed by other peoples' investigations, and generally safe, their strength would better serve the Empire from within New Nievtra for now. Thus, hundreds of keelish sought out rations, materials, and anything that they presumed would be valuable to us in the establishment and defense of our new capital city.
"The Alpha is or are or… whatever. The Alpha says that they're sorry for the swarm's stupidity." Farahlia said as she walked up to me. Brutus, behind me, didn't attempt to stifle the chuckle that bubbled out of his throat.
"I appreciate it." I answered. "I realize that they're leaving themselves in a pretty dangerous position, since I'm taking so many of their supporters with me while they stay in Tala."
Farahlia's tail twitched. "Are you going to keep making me serve as your messenger with them?" She whined.
"Why wouldn't I, when you're doing such a good job?" I asked, not hiding the grin that flashed across my face as I said as much.
Farahlia almost pouted again before twisting her hips and sidling into me. "I suppose I can, if you'll make it worth my while? After all, Lord Zaaktif, I came here at your behest."
"And serving for the good of the New Empire is not reward enough? Do you need more assignments?" I asked, understanding what she was asking for and continuing to shut her down.
"Only to bear you children." Farahlia insisted. "We do wish for there to be more Keel in the Empire, do we not?"
"And that's why I'll father Sybil's children. My mate and I will serve as a sufficient template of Keel strength, will we not?" I responded, not keeping the growls of anger from my words.
Farahlia gave up, bowing her head and walking away, though her petulance was obvious in every step she took. I snorted and turned away from her, uncaring of her desires to bear my children. I looked over the swarming keelish, their movements working to prepare the swarm of one thousand that were going to accompany us on our travels south. With their own understanding of the need to not exhaust all the life that could sustain us, the more preparations we could complete here, the better, but I suspected that we'd find plenty of opportunities to feed ourselves within the Shandise, even if it fell back to eating more and more of the damned giant ants.
We'd crossed the mountains and traveled back west to get here, and I was told that far off to the west, there was a massive river. I considered visiting it, but it was unnecessary, as apparently there was a massive horde of creatures that were more trouble than they were worth hunting. Even so, I made sure to go on a one day excursion to hunt one of the creatures.
I'd seen some crabs in my previous life, things like aquatic spiders with large claws, and the hive of Shoreline Snappers looked much like the crabs I'd seen in my previous life, though about the size of a regular keelish. I'd guess each individual was about as dangerous as three individual ants up in the Shandise, but they didn't fight with the same reckless lack of self-regard that the ants did, nor did they work together nearly so effectively. For a time, I wondered if it was worth it to exterminate the entire group, but they would serve as a proving ground for the young of Tala, as well as a food source, so I ultimately left them alone after securing my kill.
I looked in the direction of the snappers' home, but was interrupted.
"Why dost thou deny thy subordinate's advances? Wouldst it not strengthen the whole of the Empire, wert thou to sire many offspring?"
I looked over at the Alpha, the male and female together as always. They made themselves known around me several times a day, but they spent much of their time within the bounds of their home and throne room.
"I don't want to. That's the main reason." I flicked my tail as a shrug. "I have my mate, just like you seem to. No reason for me to go around siring dozens of Keel who'll fight for supremacy when I can raise several to fit well into the Empire as it is established."
"Our situation is different by design from that of the natural state of the keelish." The male half of the Alpha responded, to be followed by the female, saying, "We as the Alpha, were created as a way for two khatif to meld their capabilities that they may approach the strength of a single Keel. Thou hast surpassed the ways of old, and created a new now, and thus our existence hath become obsolete and unnecessary."
I perked up with curiosity. "Was there something done to merge your minds to do as much?"
"Indeed, but our union will be forgotten to time, as thou hast long surpassed the primitive actions of our ancestors. We shall be the last Alpha of our kind, and we welcome our next successors in their less fettered existence." Both spoke in unison, seeming to speak not from a place of jealousy, frustration, or dislike of the other, instead merely considering their existence to be an inferior reflection of the evolution to Keel.
I flared my frills in acknowledgement of their statement, but still answered, "I simply don't want to have more than one mate. There isn't much else to it than that. There are many more Keel, and I don't doubt that many will take multiple mates. I have no problem with that, but I want to maintain the size of the Zak'Tal family."
"If that is what thou desirest, Zaaktif, then let it be so. We and our own shall consign ourselves to mere Sou'Tal, like Farahlia is."
"Thanks." I replied, unsure of how to respond. Then, the Alphas walked away, leaving me a little curious about how their bond functioned, exactly, but I couldn't bring myself to care enough about how this apparently inferior process was able to be created and maintained. Instead, I looked around, saw that the swarm was ready enough to begin movement, and walked out in front of the people, my people.
"Follow me!" I declared. "We will gather every keelish we find on our path, and we shall return to New Nievtra, where we will further solidify our position as a nation, as a people under my rule!"
Cheers filled the air as I made the declaration, and with a wide grin on my face, we began a migration of sorts, though this time, every step we took was in land that we had claimed for our own.